I set a goal: Top 50 at Regions, four years ago after my first region race. In the years in between I doubted the likelihood of me finishing in the top 50 but this year I finished 49th in a time of 32:11 for the 10k on Alabama's course.
Before this race I decided that I was going to run this race for my grandma who passed away September 13th of this year. I loved her very much and we were a lot closer than most people are with their grandparents. After the race, I gave my grandpa a hug. I told him that I ran the race for his beloved wife of 59 years and he could see the tears I was holding back and I could see the tears he was holding back. I am blessed with a family that has always given me their love and support no matter the endeavor.
I got out hard in 4:58 and 10:00 for the mile and two mile respectively, but I did not hear any of the times after that.
I brought everything I had to this xc season. Not to say I brought any less the previous years. I have always put in the effort.
It was a season that started poorly and got better as each race went along. It was an honor to run for the Georgia Tech Cross Country team. This year was something special for me. The team dynamic was the best I have ever seen. Along with the work ethic of my teammates and their desire to improve. Our team finished eighth place at the acc championships-a place our team has not finished since 2004.
I am sad that it has come to an end. I have always considered cross country as my strength. There are no hills on a track, but I am going to bring my best to this track season. I want to see what I am capable of. While I was in the van on the ride back to Georgia Tech, I had the pleasure of sitting in the passenger seat as Coach drove and having some good running conversations. I was the last person Coach dropped off and as we are getting out of the van, Coach said, "Greg you had a great race and a great cross country season. Now lets bring that to the track." And that is exactly what I plan to do.
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Great job Greg! You deserved it! I hope you continue this blog through track season; it's pretty interesting.
ReplyDeletehello guru,
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of yours and often look at your dedication to doing the right things outside of running. I was recently going over some of your off-season core and was wondering how you broke that down. Could you give a break-down of a standard German core workout with descriptions? Or maybe one of the others (Helsinki, Pedestal, Dryer and Teak, etc.)? Thanks :)
The standard German Fernandez workout is 350 pushups and 800 situps a day. This can easily be completed in one hour, but then you have to ask yourself why you spent an hour just doing pushups and situps.
ReplyDelete3 x week I do 60 pushups, 150 situps-taking me between 8 and 9 minutes. I do 10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 pushups, 20 situps, 10 pushups, 30 situps, 10 pushups, 40 situps, 10 pushups, 50 situps, 10 pushups. Then I do Russian Twist with 60 twists, side crunches-30 on each side, 60 crunches with a twist, and 60 heel touches. Then I do 30 crunches, 6" for about 2 minutes, 30 hypers, scissors-up and down and criss cross, 30 prone cobra, 30 legs up and down from 6", 30 superman, 60 legs in and out with crunch, 30 alternating superman each side, 30 toe touches. Then planks on elbows and planks on hands. And there is 30 minutes of core 3 x a week you can do.